Hearing postponed for accused I-96 shooter

Raulie Wayne Casteel, 43, of Wixom, is escorted by an Oakland County Sheriff's deputy out of the courtroom of 52-1 District Court Judge Brian MacKenzie after his preliminary exam conference, Wednesday November 14, 2012. (Vaughn Gurganian/Journal Register News)

An adjournment to a later date was the latest Thursday in the case against the man accused of 24 random shooting incidents at motorists and residents of four counties in October.

Raulie Wayne Casteel, 43, did not appear in Judge Denise Langford Morris’ courtroom for a pretrial as scheduled. In a short hearing Thursday morning, no one was immediately clear on why the defendant was not in the courtroom. According to officials, the only information available was that Casteel was taken from the Oakland County Jail Wednesday by the Michigan State Police.

One half of his defense team, Douglas Mullkoff, arrived in his absence and requested a continuance of the Wixom man’s proceedings.

The court rescheduled the hearing for May 30.

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Casteel is charged with 60 counts on nine shooting incidents in Wixom and Commerce Township. He’ll be tried on charges of assault with intent to murder, along with several felony weapons charges, in Oakland County, by prosecutor Jessica Cooper’s office.

The remaining 15 shooting incidents from Livingston, Ingham and Shiawassee counties will be handled in a grouped case by the office of Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette. Among the charges is one count of terrorism — which representatives of the Schuette’s office said was an apt assessment — that carries a penalty of life in prison if Casteel is convicted.

The married father remains jailed on a $2 million bond in both Oakland and Livingston counties.

The reason for Casteel’s absence from court — presumably due to Casteel’s conflicting court schedules in Oakland and Livingston counties — was not elaborated upon.

In court, the only light shed on the subject was from Langford Morris, who said, “The record should reflect that we received notice, I guess late yesterday, that the defendant was writted to another jurisdiction.”

Early calls to the Oakland County sheriff’s office, the Michigan State Police, the Michigan attorney general’s office and the Oakland County prosecutor all revealed that no officials were quite certain why Casteel was taken from Oakland County and where he was going.

Outside the courtroom, Mullkoff said, only, “I assume he’s back where’s he’s been residing in the Livingston County Jail.”

He also declined to give the name of the psychiatrist his legal team has procured for an independent exam.

Mulkoff — who arrived later than the scheduled 8:30 a.m. pretrial start time — explained to Morris that he was “in the process of arranging ... an independent ... psychiatric evaluation.”

“I have spoken to the psychiatrist ... he is thinking that it will be necessary to have about six weeks in order for him to do the necessary interviews and evaluations,” added Casteel’s attorney.

In the interim, Casteel is scheduled to appear in Livingston County Circuit Court for a pretrial April 12 in front of Chief Judge David Reader.